I'm not sure what to think about Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. It was simple, sweet, predictable and a tinge insane. I am far from a bleeding heart liberal. I like animals, but I also eat them (if they taste good). But I don't enjoy watching animals suffer abuse. When this film was made in 1992, attitudes toward this type of entertainment were probably less sensitive toward the animal's perspective. But I do have problems with jumping a horse forty feet off a ramp into a swimming pool. It just seems fundamentally wrong. To be fair, the SPCA checked on the act at the time and never found any incidents of cruelty.
Sanora Webster (Gabrielle Anwar) lives with her Aunt Helen (Lisa Norman). She moved in with her aunt after her parents died, but never quite seemed capable of fitting in. Unable to control the ambitious stubborn teenager, Aunt Helen advises Sanora that she will be turned over to the State where she will be placed in a foster home. Faced with the prospect of state custody, Sanora packs her belongings and heads off to the circus.
Sanora exerts her willfulness to convince the showman, Doctor Carver (Cliff Robertson) to give her a job. Although she wants to do a horse diving act, she is relegated to shoveling manure. With an unbending will (and some lucky breaks) Sanora weasels her way into the show resulting in a freak accident. Sanora relies on her fearlessness and drive to overcome her disability and continue her career.
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken skirts the sappy sweet stuff for a rather generic story based on true events. The story tries to be heartwarming, but never really connected. It was like old-school Disney without emotion. The story was there. The characters were in place. But somehow there was a disconnect between the characters and the audience. I never really felt engaged with the events I was watching. It wasn't quite documentary, but it felt oddly sterile. A film like this should tug at the heartstrings. It doesn't.
Anwar was decent as Sanora, but not entirely convincing. Her determination and drive seemed natural at times but also seemed contrived and forced. This was especially true when she was learning to mount a moving horse. Her attempts and frustration were staged to the point of being tedious to watch. Robertson seemed perfect for the aging Barnum-type showman and I enjoyed his performance. There was something distracting about his make-up that made him seem phony, but his performance was good. A few of the characters, like Marie (Kathleen York) were too one-dimensional to blame their issues on the actor. In total, the acting was acceptable.
I don't know who came up with the insane idea of diving horses, but the concept is as intriguing as it is disturbing. Creating a film about these horses must have presented some interesting challenges in the pre-CGI days. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of horses making that kind of jump, but I'll get over it. The story was predictable but modestly enjoyable. The acting was tolerable. Opportunities for engaging the audience with dialogue and drama that could tug at your heart-strings were clearly missed. The feel of this film is very distant and sterile. I would mildly recommend Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken if you have nothing better to do. 6/10.
Trailer and images subject to copyright.
